NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team scored 27 runs on 27 hits on its way to sweeping UW-Superior by scores of 11-3 and 16-4 in its home-opening doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.
St. Olaf (7-1) got four strong innings on the mound from junior
Forrest Kobelt in the opener, as the right-hander allowed just one run while striking out four. After pounding 15 hits in the opener, the Oles had 13 more in game two to improve to 9-1 all-time against UW-Superior (7-8).
The 7-1 start to the season is St. Olaf's best since the 2011 team also started 7-1. The Oles received votes in this week's D3baseball.com/NCBWA national poll.
St. Olaf 11, UW-Superior 3 | Box Score
All nine St. Olaf starters, plus pinch hitter Avery von Herrmann, had at least one hit in the opener, as the Oles put together four multi-run innings.
Bobby Isbell was 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run and two RBI,
Andrew Nomoto,
Joey Glampe, and
Travis McDonald had two hits apiece.
Kobelt picked up the win for the second time in as many starts this season, allowing one hit and four walks in his four innings of work. Four other St. Olaf pitchers worked in the game, including
Sam Lavin, who fanned four in his two innings of relief.
The Oles strung together three two-out hits to score the game's first three runs in the bottom of the second. McDonald and Isbell provided consecutive RBI doubles before
Harald Borg knocked in Isbell with a single to cap the frame.
In his collegiate debut,
Evan Clark picked up his first collegiate hit and RBI with a run-scoring single in the third to make it 4-0. St. Olaf later stretched its lead to 7-1 with three runs in the fourth, including a pair on a two-out, two-run single by
Brian Nevin, and went on to score twice in the sixth and twice in the seventh.
St. Olaf 16, UW-Superior 4 | Box Score
In game two, the Oles scored multiple runs in each of the first five innings on their way to the run-rule win. All nine St. Olaf starters reached base, eight via hit, as Rogers led the way by going 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, an RBI, three runs, and five stolen bases.
Glampe joined Rogers with a three-hit game, going 3-for-5 with two RBI, while
Matthew Muller, Lavin, and McDonald each drove in two runs. On the mound, first year
Will Wamre earned his first collegiate victory by striking out five in four innings of two-run (one earned) relief.
Rogers led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch with one out and scored on Nomoto's single to center to give St. Olaf a quick 1-0 lead. The Oles added an unearned run later in the frame to double their lead.
Lavin's two-out, two-run double to right center highlighted a four-run second that pushed St. Olaf's lead to 6-1. Glampe plated two more runs for the Oles in the third with a two-out, two-run double of his own to right center to make it 8-2.
After scoring twice in the fourth to stretch its lead to 10-2, St. Olaf tacked on six runs on five hits in the fifth to open up a 16-3 cushion. McDonald brought in two runs with a single in the frame as part of a stretch where four-straight Oles got a hit.
Sean Goldman made the start for St. Olaf and allowed just one run with three strikeouts in his two innings of work. All three Oles to pitch in game two were first years, as
Derek Hansen worked the third inning in his collegiate debut before turning it over to Wamre.
St. Olaf hosts Augsburg University to open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Wednesday, April 7. First pitch is at 2:30 p.m. The Oles swept the Auggies in a non-conference twin bill at U.S. Bank Stadium on Monday, March 22.
